1. United States
2. Mich.
3. Letter

I am writing to urge you to address the dangerous spread of misinformation about transgender healthcare that is being presented as legitimate journalism. Recent reporting in major outlets has systematically misrepresented medical consensus and amplified voices from organizations designated as hate groups by the Southern Poverty Law Center. A recent New York Times article claimed the American Society of Plastic Surgeons broke from scientific consensus on transgender care. Investigation revealed the ASPS statement was issued by a board led by Bob Basu, a significant Trump campaign donor, through a secretive process that bypassed the organization's own expert task force. Seven task force members wrote an open letter stating they were unaware of the statement's authors or methodology. The statement's age 19 cutoff matches Trump's January 2025 executive order exactly and relies heavily on the Trump administration's HHS report. Within hours of release, HHS leadership and anti-trans advocacy groups celebrated it. The same article claimed European countries are retreating from gender-affirming care while omitting that in March 2025, 26 medical organizations across Germany, Austria, and Switzerland released over 400 pages of clinical guidelines explicitly recommending puberty blockers and gender-affirming care. In December 2024, France's Society of Pediatric Endocrinology released France's first national consensus recommending treatment. The article cited a 2022 blog post rather than French medical authorities. Most troubling, the article presented sources without disclosing their affiliations. Dr. Julia Mason is co-founder of SEGM, an SPLC-designated hate group that has had its medical education credentials pulled for pushing pseudoscience. Leor Sapir is not a physician but a political scientist hired by the Manhattan Institute after a $400,000 donation created a gender identity initiative. He co-authored the Trump administration's report used to justify banning care. In December 2024, the American Psychiatric Association approved a position statement through its full institutional process stating that data demonstrates gender-affirming care reduces depression, anxiety, and suicidal ideation among youth. This was not mentioned. When misinformation about healthcare is disguised as balanced reporting, it endangers vulnerable young people and their families. I urge you to publicly call for accountability from media outlets spreading false information about transgender healthcare and to support legislation protecting access to evidence-based medical care.